It was a simple screen pass. The ball-hawking middle linebacker got the early read and sprinted across the slippery gridiron to smash the running back before he got anywhere. He made his final step, and his planted left foot stuck in the ground just a split second too long. A lineman executed a cut block on his suddenly vulnerable position, taking him out at the knees. As he lay on the field in agony, four years of hard work went flashing before his eyes.
On the field laid Brad Seiss. His left knee had just been completely obliterated on the cut block He knew right away the prognosis would not be good.
"I felt a pop and they pretty much knew everything had happened there," he said.
The fifth-year senior out of Warsaw tore his meniscus, ACL and MCL, also known as the "unhappy triad" in the medical world. It is a common injury, especially in football, where the knee gets hit on the outside. With that injury, a normal recovery can take eight months to a year. For Seiss, five months did the trick.
"I never missed a day where I could come in and get treatment and do things," he said. "A lot of people who could've been in my situation would've sat around for a while and thought 'What if?' and moped around. I got my treatment, did my rehabilitation and just trusted the trainers because they've seen a lot of cases like mine."
The positive outlook certainly helped. To recover so quickly from the injury, Seiss made goals for himself, goals that were almost unrealistic. He had surgery in early May. In a little over six week's time, he wanted to be running again. By the end of July, he wanted to be able to plant his leg and make cuts. By the Indiana University game, he wanted to be cleared for contact. He also made it a goal to be back in time for the Northern Illinois University game on Saturday. He met or exceeded every single goal.
Seiss made it back a game early, playing more than 20 plays Saturday against North Dakota State University with a brace on his left knee. Although the knee was a little stiff from not playing for so long and even taking a few cut blocks, he made two tackles in the 29-24 loss.
He had an opportunity to apply for a medical redshirt this season, sitting out this year and then coming for a sixth year in 2007. But Seiss said that's something he told coach Brady Hoke he would consider, but never planned on using it because he wanted to finish out with this year's seniors.
"I love to play the game," Seiss said. "I just saw it as I wanted to finish my career with them because they're like a second family to me and that was real important going through the whole recovery process."
Quarterback Joey Lynch, Seiss' roommate since his freshman year and senior co-captain, had plenty of advice to offer. He tore his ACL in May 2001 before his senior year of high school and recovered quickly enough to make it back for the season opener in August. Lynch said even though the doctors felt Seiss wasn't going to make the timetable, his intensity and demeanor would help him prevail.
"When it happened he was upset, but he wasn't upset very long." he said. "because there was no doubt in his mind he was going to be back this year and he was going to play football with this team. There's not a guy on the team who doesn't respect him and what he stands for. For the guys to see the trouble he went though, the guys respect him more. Now that he's back, I think he'll just bring a lot of emotion and intensity that he naturally brings."
That mentality shows in his workout plan. Even with the injury, Seiss did not miss a single day of workouts. Coach Brady Hoke said he couldn't remember a time he wasn't at the Fisher Football Training Complex with the trainers or Aaron Wellman, the director of strength and conditioning for the football program.
"You're talking about a focused, determined guy," Hoke said. "This team's important to him. The game of football's important to him. It's not a miracle, but for him coming back as fast as he has and feeling as good as he feels, it's pretty neat."
Seiss will be the first one to tell you he didn't push himself just to prove a point.
He did it because wants to leave with this group of seniors and wants to win a Mid-American Conference championship this year. Competitors want to be out on the field, and Seiss is no different. It would've been hard to take the medical redshirt and ease back for 2007 knowing that he wasn't pushing himself to the fullest.
"To me, the team has always been the most important thing," Seiss said. "I feel being experienced and a leader of the team that my presence can help us win games. That's the most important part. Me coming back is just a side story compared to hopefully what we can do down the road as far as winning the MAC and bringing this thing along."
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